During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.
Observations:
My assigned CT in the middle school is regarded by the students as the toughest teacher who is not to be messed with.It is quite evident that the students understand that the power lies with him. The CT needs only to say the students’ names, or sometimes just stand near them, to affect their behavior.I have never seen nor heard an interaction pertaining to classroom discipline progress into a confrontation.There is no “discussion” on who is right when it concerns behavior in his class. However, when I asked the students what they think of this uncompromising, strict, no nonsense teacher they invariably say that he is “very good, tough but fair, nice.”Even the students who seem to be focus of his scrutiny have mostly good things to say about him.The tough but fair moniker is often applied to the teacher by these students. Why is this so?It is evident that the CT is very well respected as well as feared in his classrooms.The respect and acceptance he receives from his students is predicated upon the respect and acceptance he gives each and every student in his class.He often peppers his classroom and individual interactions with personal anecdotes that reflect that he understands what they are feeling or thinking about.He tells them flat out that he likes them, even when they are misbehaving.He tells them since he likes them so much that it would be wrong if he didn’t hold them responsible for their actions.He is modeling correct adult behavior every minute of the day.He tells them that he understands that sometimes they are confused on how to act, and tells them he too acted the same way when he was young.He tells them that he has confidence in them. Most importantly he constantly tells them that it is their choice on how to act, and that he hopes they at least think a little about the consequences that come with choices.
Reflections:
How would I like to be perceived by my students when I begin teaching?Well the above model is not a bad one to duplicate.The psychologist Carl Rogers opined that a key behavior for a successful teacher is unconditional positive regard.I am seeing it in action with my CT.Unconditional positive regard is something that I am comfortable with.My advanced age has provided me with many experiences that confirm the benefits of such a perspective. I will not have difficulties telling the students the things that promote respect.What I need to concentrate is on the skills needed to build the tough part of being “tough but fair”.I will watch closely and pay attention to my CT’s actions that reinforce discipline with these middle schoolers.
Class Topic: A Matter of Style
Grade: 8
Observed by: Lionel Tessier
Observation/Reflection #3: A Matter of Style
During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.Observations:
My assigned CT in the middle school is regarded by the students as the toughest teacher who is not to be messed with. It is quite evident that the students understand that the power lies with him. The CT needs only to say the students’ names, or sometimes just stand near them, to affect their behavior. I have never seen nor heard an interaction pertaining to classroom discipline progress into a confrontation. There is no “discussion” on who is right when it concerns behavior in his class.However, when I asked the students what they think of this uncompromising, strict, no nonsense teacher they invariably say that he is “very good, tough but fair, nice.” Even the students who seem to be focus of his scrutiny have mostly good things to say about him. The tough but fair moniker is often applied to the teacher by these students.
Why is this so? It is evident that the CT is very well respected as well as feared in his classrooms. The respect and acceptance he receives from his students is predicated upon the respect and acceptance he gives each and every student in his class. He often peppers his classroom and individual interactions with personal anecdotes that reflect that he understands what they are feeling or thinking about. He tells them flat out that he likes them, even when they are misbehaving. He tells them since he likes them so much that it would be wrong if he didn’t hold them responsible for their actions. He is modeling correct adult behavior every minute of the day. He tells them that he understands that sometimes they are confused on how to act, and tells them he too acted the same way when he was young. He tells them that he has confidence in them.
Most importantly he constantly tells them that it is their choice on how to act, and that he hopes they at least think a little about the consequences that come with choices.
Reflections:
How would I like to be perceived by my students when I begin teaching? Well the above model is not a bad one to duplicate. The psychologist Carl Rogers opined that a key behavior for a successful teacher is unconditional positive regard. I am seeing it in action with my CT. Unconditional positive regard is something that I am comfortable with. My advanced age has provided me with many experiences that confirm the benefits of such a perspective. I will not have difficulties telling the students the things that promote respect. What I need to concentrate is on the skills needed to build the tough part of being “tough but fair”. I will watch closely and pay attention to my CT’s actions that reinforce discipline with these middle schoolers.Class Topic: A Matter of Style
Grade: 8
Observed by: Lionel Tessier